This past weekend I participated in Roosevelt High School's Relay For Life event supported by the American Cancer Society. It was an all-night (12 hours) event which started at 7:00 p.m. Friday night and ended at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. You might be wondering, what does one do at one of these events? Basically, people spend the whole night walking around a track to support cancer survivors. This is the second year I participated and I enjoy it a lot, even though I freeze my butt off.
In the beginning, it isn't really cold. The temperature is decent and you start to wonder why people warned you to bring your thickest jacket. But, once you start to reach 2-3 a.m. in the morning, things start to get bad. All of a sudden, the temperature suddenly drops and you can feel the air around you getting colder. At this point, your hands and legs will start to become colder and you start to shiver. Also, walking around the track becomes painful. Instead of warming you up, the cold wind rushing towards you as you walk makes you even colder. Apparently in this case, doing exercise and movement does not warm your body up. During these times, there is not much you can do except snuggle into your sleeping bag and lie down somewhere on the hard ground. However, this option is not much of an improvement. Surprisingly, the only warm place is the bathroom. But, of course you can't spend the whole night in the bathroom. That would just be extremely awkward and weird.
The only comfort, if any, that you can take from this pain is the meaning attached to it. When a cancer patient is going through the battle against cancer, 2-3 a.m. is the period where the patient struggles the most. It is during these early hours in the morning where they fight their toughest battle. The torture that they go through at this time is almost like the torture we feel as we brave the freezing temperatures.
One thing that really surprised me was the fact that it actually gets COLDER when the sun comes up. Who would have known? I was actually happy that the sun would come up and give us warmth. But, the moment that I started seeing light the temperature managed to drop even more. I don't know how that is actually possible but apparently our world works in indescribable ways. I extremely disliked the temperature, but I will without a doubt do this again next year and the year after that if I were given the chance. Why? Cancer has affected many of the people around me that I deeply care about. I know the pain that it inflicts upon not only the patient, but their family and friends as well. The faster we can find a cure, the better off life will be. If Zell Kravinsky can give away millions and a kidney to help mankind, surely a night braving the cold can’t be that unbearable.
Interview
Q: Good Morning. How are you? Are you ready?
A: Good Morning. I’m fine, thank you. I’m as ready as I ever will be. How are you?
Q: Fine, thank you. Don’t worry; it’s going to be fun. Let’s start off with something easy, what’s in your commonplace book?
A: Nothing extremely exciting or unique; just entries on my thoughts and feelings for a particular day. Some are focused on special events where I feel the need to write and reflect on. Also I have pictures from magazines in here. Most of the pictures either connect to something happening in class or school, or one of my essential questions. I try to find pictures which relate to something happening around me.
Q: Do you have more written entries, with just words, or entries with pictures?
A: I definitely have more picture entries than word entries.
Q: Why?
A: A picture is worth a thousand words. I just feel that pictures get the point across clearer. Readers will be able to visualize an event in their minds more accurately. Also, when I get writers block, finding a picture can help me think of something to write about.
Q: (Jokingly) Are you sure it’s not due to laziness?
A: Ha Ha, well laziness might be a factor. There are just some days when you can’t find it in you to write a long, wordy entry. On these days, I’m more inclined to do a picture entry.
Q: What magazines do you look in to find those pictures?
A: All kinds. If I get desperate, any magazine that I can get my hands on, I will flip through. Mostly I use my mom’s magazines because the ones that I have usually don’t relate to things happening in school or my essential questions.
Q: And what magazines are those?
A: Hmm, let me see. Most of my pictures come from the Fortune magazines. They relate to topics we discussed in class, such as sustainability and helping others.
Q: Do you have a hard time finding those pictures?
A: On some days, I will have a really good magazine which gives me the right pictures the moment I open it up and flip through the pages. On other days, I will lie down on the floor for an hour searching through different magazines just to find something that expresses my feelings. Many times I will just give up after searching for a long time and move on to writing an entry on something else.
Q: What would you say, on average, is the amount of time you spend looking for one picture?
A: Wow, this is hard. Umm, I guess I would have to say ten to fifteen minutes.
Q: Is this longer than the time spent on word-only entries?
A: Sometimes yes, but many times I get writers’ block and I will sit there for a while just wondering what to write about. I even get writers’ block halfway through my entry, I just can’t think of what to write. Usually when this happens, it’s not that I have nothing left to say, it’s just that I don’t know how to word it and write it down so that my readers can understand what I’m talking about.
Q: What topics do you write about?
A: I try to answer my essential questions, but there hasn’t been much luck. The only one which I did a lot of analyzing on was the questions relating to college. Many entries focus on college and my dilemma with the decision of picking the right one. Also, I will write about interesting events that happened to me, like Chinese New Year and a debate tournament I went to. Basically anything that pops into my mind and relates to something in my life. I try to make them more than just a few random thoughts that I put on paper.
Q: You mention your essential questions a few times, what exactly are these questions?
A: Oh questions that I have about life and my future. Examples would be, what college I should attend, what my future holds for me, life outside of Earth. Things like that.
Q: Okay, now before we run out of time, one last question. Do you believe that having a commonplace book has helped you?
A: At first, I didn’t quite understand why we needed to keep a commonplace book, after all, it was just more homework I had to do. But, as I started to add more and more entries, I found it was a great way to reflect on my life. I’ve never exactly kept a journal before, so after writing down my thoughts into my commonplace book, it allowed me to feel freer. Very cliché I know, but it’s true. One such example is the college topic, something I refer back to frequently. By writing down all my thoughts about college, I was able to visually look at it and try to sort it out. It was a good way to reflect on the college topic. While I still have many questions and doubts about college, the commonplace book has helped in solving many of them. It’s never good to have things bottled up inside of you because they will keep you awake at night. Writing them down and analyzing them really helps. I believe that is what my commonplace book is for, and what it has done for me.
Q: Ah, I see. Well thank you for your time and good luck with your commonplace book.
A: Thank you, bye.
This past weekend I participated in Roosevelt High School's Relay For Life event supported by the American Cancer Society. It was an all-night (12 hours) event which started at 7:00 p.m. Friday night and ended at 7:00 a.m. Saturday morning. You might be wondering, what does one do at one of these events? Basically, people spend the whole night walking around a track to support cancer survivors. This is the second year I participated and I enjoy it a lot, even though I freeze my butt off.
In the beginning, it isn't really cold. The temperature is decent and you start to wonder why people warned you to bring your thickest jacket. But, once you start to reach 2-3 a.m. in the morning, things start to get bad. All of a sudden, the temperature suddenly drops and you can feel the air around you getting colder. At this point, your hands and legs will start to become colder and you start to shiver. Also, walking around the track becomes painful. Instead of warming you up, the cold wind rushing towards you as you walk makes you even colder. Apparently in this case, doing exercise and movement does not warm your body up. During these times, there is not much you can do except snuggle into your sleeping bag and lie down somewhere on the hard ground. However, this option is not much of an improvement. Surprisingly, the only warm place is the bathroom. But, of course you can't spend the whole night in the bathroom. That would just be extremely awkward and weird.
The only comfort, if any, that you can take from this pain is the meaning attached to it. When a cancer patient is going through the battle against cancer, 2-3 a.m. is the period where the patient struggles the most. It is during these early hours in the morning where they fight their toughest battle. The torture that they go through at this time is almost like the torture we feel as we brave the freezing temperatures.
One thing that really surprised me was the fact that it actually gets COLDER when the sun comes up. Who would have known? I was actually happy that the sun would come up and give us warmth. But, the moment that I started seeing light the temperature managed to drop even more. I don't know how that is actually possible but apparently our world works in indescribable ways. I extremely disliked the temperature, but I will without a doubt do this again next year and the year after that if I were given the chance. Why? Cancer has affected many of the people around me that I deeply care about. I know the pain that it inflicts upon not only the patient, but their family and friends as well. The faster we can find a cure, the better off life will be. If Zell Kravinsky can give away millions and a kidney to help mankind, surely a night braving the cold can’t be that unbearable.
Interview
Q: Good Morning. How are you? Are you ready?
A: Good Morning. I’m fine, thank you. I’m as ready as I ever will be. How are you?
Q: Fine, thank you. Don’t worry; it’s going to be fun. Let’s start off with something easy, what’s in your commonplace book?
A: Nothing extremely exciting or unique; just entries on my thoughts and feelings for a particular day. Some are focused on special events where I feel the need to write and reflect on. Also I have pictures from magazines in here. Most of the pictures either connect to something happening in class or school, or one of my essential questions. I try to find pictures which relate to something happening around me.
Q: Do you have more written entries, with just words, or entries with pictures?
A: I definitely have more picture entries than word entries.
Q: Why?
A: A picture is worth a thousand words. I just feel that pictures get the point across clearer. Readers will be able to visualize an event in their minds more accurately. Also, when I get writers block, finding a picture can help me think of something to write about.
Q: (Jokingly) Are you sure it’s not due to laziness?
A: Ha Ha, well laziness might be a factor. There are just some days when you can’t find it in you to write a long, wordy entry. On these days, I’m more inclined to do a picture entry.
Q: What magazines do you look in to find those pictures?
A: All kinds. If I get desperate, any magazine that I can get my hands on, I will flip through. Mostly I use my mom’s magazines because the ones that I have usually don’t relate to things happening in school or my essential questions.
Q: And what magazines are those?
A: Hmm, let me see. Most of my pictures come from the Fortune magazines. They relate to topics we discussed in class, such as sustainability and helping others.
Q: Do you have a hard time finding those pictures?
A: On some days, I will have a really good magazine which gives me the right pictures the moment I open it up and flip through the pages. On other days, I will lie down on the floor for an hour searching through different magazines just to find something that expresses my feelings. Many times I will just give up after searching for a long time and move on to writing an entry on something else.
Q: What would you say, on average, is the amount of time you spend looking for one picture?
A: Wow, this is hard. Umm, I guess I would have to say ten to fifteen minutes.
Q: Is this longer than the time spent on word-only entries?
A: Sometimes yes, but many times I get writers’ block and I will sit there for a while just wondering what to write about. I even get writers’ block halfway through my entry, I just can’t think of what to write. Usually when this happens, it’s not that I have nothing left to say, it’s just that I don’t know how to word it and write it down so that my readers can understand what I’m talking about.
Q: What topics do you write about?
A: I try to answer my essential questions, but there hasn’t been much luck. The only one which I did a lot of analyzing on was the questions relating to college. Many entries focus on college and my dilemma with the decision of picking the right one. Also, I will write about interesting events that happened to me, like Chinese New Year and a debate tournament I went to. Basically anything that pops into my mind and relates to something in my life. I try to make them more than just a few random thoughts that I put on paper.
Q: You mention your essential questions a few times, what exactly are these questions?
A: Oh questions that I have about life and my future. Examples would be, what college I should attend, what my future holds for me, life outside of Earth. Things like that.
Q: Okay, now before we run out of time, one last question. Do you believe that having a commonplace book has helped you?
A: At first, I didn’t quite understand why we needed to keep a commonplace book, after all, it was just more homework I had to do. But, as I started to add more and more entries, I found it was a great way to reflect on my life. I’ve never exactly kept a journal before, so after writing down my thoughts into my commonplace book, it allowed me to feel freer. Very cliché I know, but it’s true. One such example is the college topic, something I refer back to frequently. By writing down all my thoughts about college, I was able to visually look at it and try to sort it out. It was a good way to reflect on the college topic. While I still have many questions and doubts about college, the commonplace book has helped in solving many of them. It’s never good to have things bottled up inside of you because they will keep you awake at night. Writing them down and analyzing them really helps. I believe that is what my commonplace book is for, and what it has done for me.
Q: Ah, I see. Well thank you for your time and good luck with your commonplace book.
A: Thank you, bye.